The stories, Popol Vuh and the Book of Genesis, are from different cultures. Many individuals believe that ‘different’ means varying opinions. However, each one could display similarities in beliefs. On the other hand, similarities may also reveal some slight differences in each culture. Creation stories have changed significantly throughout each individual culture, but each story may also come with various similarities. In each story, the people worship some God; maybe even more than one. The text Popol Vuh states “Name now our names, praise us...speak, pray to us, keep our days.” Genesis does not contain an unequivocal quote that involves them worshipping God, but it can be implied by the command he gives them to take care of all his …show more content…
In response to not meeting their expectations, the Gods each respond differently; yet negatively at the same time. In Genesis, the deity exiles Adam and Eve for eating from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. However, in Popol Vuh the deity elects to only leave animal but kill all people. These responses from each deity reveal what each culture thinks will happen upon disobeying their creator. Each story also displays a difference in the way which the deity resolves the complication. In Popol Vuh, the deity decides to limit the extent of their knowledge and vision; meaning they would not be any better than their respective deity. In Genesis, the deity does not only exile Adam and Eve; he later ends up deciding to create a flood that wipes out mankind. These differences reveal that not every god response the same to each failed expectation. In reading both texts, the spiritual essences is show through their common theme of worshipping the individual deities. In Genesis, the deity is presented as an individual who is all powerful; making not a single mistake. On the other hand, in Popol Vuh it is evident that each deity can make mistakes. Being able to recognize the similarities and differences between cultures provides us with a deeper understanding of each belief and how it varies with others prior to
Each work shows how the relationship bet ween the gods and the humans work. In the Indian culture the gods is someone who can show the people the way but in the Hebrew culture their god test the loyalty of the humans. In both cultures from the works the people will seek their gods for guidance and wisdom but the outcomes are not the same in both places. There are similarities and differences between how the relationships between people and the gods work in the different cultures. Each work the main character has a problem that is troubling the throughout each work.
This afterlife practice and process is outlined within the Popol Vuh which describes the many gods
The story of Popol Vuh and the book of Genesis are almost the same. These stories have so much in common you would think they were written by the same person. They also have their differences that help tell them apart. The similarities and differences suggest some things about myths around the world.
The Popul Vuh is a creation story written by the Quiche peoples of Guatemala translated by Christian missionaries. To the casual observer, one may see obvious parallels to the Jewish and Christian Books due to the influences of the conquistadors over the region, exemplifying the interaction and integration of beliefs between two extraordinarily different cultures (Norton 520). Such elements of interest included a rather more mythical version of the creation of Earth, where the thought of soil, water, and animals were brought into existence. In addition, the trials the Heart-of-Sky encountered in creating a being to worship him as well as the imagery accompanying each attempt had strengthened the mythical impression of this story of creation
And in The Iroquois Creation Story it states “ Among the ancients there were two worlds in existence. The Lower world was in great darkness;- the possession of the great monster; but the upper world was inhabited by mankind”(David Cusick). Now these two sections of writing are abundantly similar. Especially when the bible states that God created the Heavens and the Earth, The Iroquois Creation
Every religion has its own way of describing how life and earth came to be. It is a very disputed topic. The stories Genesis and Popol Vuh are two religions way of explaining this controversial idea. They come from the religions Christianity and the Quiché Maya. There are many differences between the two tales; however, there are also quite a few similarities.
It is surprising how many characteristics these completely unrelated gods had in common and how many they didn’t. Comparing them, their territory,
Literature, art, and music have always found ways to transcend the physical barriers and borders humans put up. They influence cultures other than the ones of their origins. Similarities between religions, mythologies, and folk stories have been noted often throughout time by academics and historians. The holy texts of some major religions like The Old Testament and the Quran share many overlapping literary themes and events with older religions and folk tales, like the ancient Sumerian poem; “The Epic of Gilgamesh”. Many examples of overlapping themes is the presence and references to great floods, supernatural influences, otherworldly gardens, and battles between good and evil.
This can make life difficult for humans as the gods tend to believe they are to be worshipped by all, but merely worshipping them does not give their divine aid or protection and should you scorn them you would face their wrath.
Sarkhan Nabiyev Thought Paper One 1/25/16 Word Count: 793 words Question: What is the character and functions of deity in Genesis 1-2 and Enuma Elish? That is, what is God/are the gods like?
Each every creation myth is unique in its own way. Of course, creation myths have their similarities, but each of them has at least one detail that separates them from every other myth. The question is how those similarities came about, considering for some of these groups that didn’t even know that each other existed. It would have nearly impossible and extremely unlikely for them to communicate with each other let alone, share their stories with each other. Yet, despite this there are some extremely common themes and events throughout these myths.
The judeo-Christian story is very well known creation story. The Christian religion is very familiar to this story. The other story is called Iroquois creation this is a Native American story of how the Earth came to a beginning. There is many similarities and differences in this story. One of the differences is that in the Christian story the Earth was made by God.
Many with a modern, Christian worldview believe there is only one God and He created the world. The Mesopotamians, according to the Enuma Elish, believed in multiple gods and they seemingly were constantly fighting amongst themselves. Tiamat was the name given to chaos and it was through her defeat that the world was created. Later in the story, Marduk creates humans to essentially be servants to the gods.
In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer portrays Greek gods and goddesses as possessing human qualities and faults. Through their actions and emotions, Homer emphasizes the detrimental effects of lust, envy, wrath, and greed in ancient Grecian society. He also never fails to remind readers of the importance of respect for holy figures because of their powerful abilities to create chaos and wonder". Homer wants to prove that gods and humans share a variety of traits, and the only difference is that god don’t allow these flaws negatively to impact their society. To help further his argument, we can compare Greek gods and goddesses to that of Christianity.
Whereas, in Genesis God is referred to in third person and his actions, as commands. Stories and characters different, they might contain. The message did not change all that often throughout these texts. As Harrison in Creation of Universe notes, “we begin by turning to the creation myths that might offer insight into the views of earlier societies on the birth and death of the universe.” It is interesting to see scriptures written for different religions through different times contain such similarities in their theme.